Radio Script #1248

Little Talks on Common Things
October 5, 1980

Several times on this broadcast reference has been made to Pemaquid. Especially I have called attention to the fact that there were English people at Pemaquid long before any English foot stepped on Plymouth Rock. Because Governor Bradford of the Pilgrim colony knew that, it explains why he sent the colony’s shallop in the spring of 1621 to get badly needed food supplies from the British fishing fleet at Pemaquid.

Today I want to give you a resume of the early history of what is now known to be one of Maine’s most historic regions, the Pemaquid peninsula, in what are now the well known villages of New Harbor and South Bristol, the lighthouse at the point, the long stretch of sand beach, Pemaquid Harbor, and the Fort with its surrounding excavated area and historical museum – places that attract several thousands of people every summer.

We now have definite evidence that European fishermen were regularly making summer voyages to Monhegan Island as early as 1350, nearly a century and a half before Columbus’ discovery. The earliest were probably Basques from the Iberian peninsula, but soon after 1500, following the voyage of the Cabots, some of the ships were manned by British crews.

One of the earliest definite records comes from the report of Explorer Gosnold in 1602. He wrote of the Pemaquid peninsula, “It is a place very pleasant to behold, with goodly grapes and sturdy trees such as cedar, spruce, pine and fir.”

In 1614, John Smith, that redoubtable seaman of the Jamestown colony of 1607, made an exploration of the whole New England coast, and reported that he found Pemaquid the most important drying place for English fishermen.

Pemaquid lies between Johns Bay on the west and Muscongus Bay in the east. It has two harbors, New Habor in the east and Pemaquid in the west. A smaller but more convenient shelter for ships was where the largest ancient settlement ha::l CEvelcp:rl at Pemaquid Fort N:>t tm m.rl1 is aa:::urately :krnvn al:x:ut. the :fu:st p::r1TBl1Ent :settlet:s.. ve do kn::w that in 1621, just a year after the landing of the Pilgrims, Jdm Pierce was given a grant that re:rl: “‘lb Jdm Pierce, citizen of Iarl::n, is gr:ante::l the right to <XlIE am :settle in tiEw EhJlarrl at SI.lCh p1ac:e as he sh3ll c:h:xse.” Pierce dl:::se R:rrEquid, b.rt: h:::w Illldl larrl his grant ena:::rrr:asse: we do not know. He built a cabin at wratJs n::Nl Pemaquid harbor. By 1623 another :settler was Jdm :B!:nvn, wOO built his cabin at New Harbor. It was BI::’cxYn wOO SEO..Jre:l fran the Irrlians the first d::ej of larrl rEgOtiat.erl by the EIglish, with artj of the Wian triI::es in the Nsw Wx1d. In 1625 00 chiefs, Sarrr:::set am Uul:;JOit, ::old to BI::’cxYn for the value of :0 :fu::’ skins, a tract b:g:i.nnirg at Para::;tuid Falls, runn:i.rB thra..’gh Nsw H3r.b:x to M..lsc::x::rgus Islarrl,
then 25 miles n:rthe3st into the a:::mtry, am st±:sEquentiy m 00 sides of the tract tack to ParEquid Falls.

In 1631 the Charter of Plymouth in England granted to British rrerdEnts, Alds\orth am Elbrid:je, a fS-tent rover:i.n:J 12,CXX) acres I193r the hJ1d:irgs of Pierce an:) Bl:o.n. ‘!tat fS-tent was signe:’1 for the Cbn::il by Ferd:inan:b Gorges am the Filr1 of W3r:wick. ‘Ihus I::e3an the 1cn:J o::rnectim with Parequid by the Corges family, vhldl arl:rl mly \\hen the M3ssad1uset:ts Pay goverrm:nt tx:ujlt fran the CbI:ges heirs in 1678 all their· int:en:st in M3:i.ne J.anjs. Corges ~ the Ald.swrt:h am Elbrid:Je prq:rietors to serrl to their grant as C23E:nt Pbra:han S1urte, wOO playerl a very prarrinent p:rt in 63r1y ParEquid. He was I’rErle a rre:gistrate, am it was l::Efore him th3.t Bl:o.n’ s Irrli.an d::ej was certifiej. 1Jrrler S1urte, rrore :settlers -were d:::>tair:ej am a w::x:rl:n fort was erecte:l. N:Br it spt:Urg up a I1llII::a: of cabins an:) other b..ri.ldirgs, En:l.J:3h to rrske a SIBli v:i.lla:3e by British starrl3r:d:3.

Except for ~, the p::irripU structure was a p:st to t::I:c:d= with the Irrlians.

Abral1:ml Su::te was an ent:erpJ::isirg ITBI1 wOO s::x::n establisherl re;3lllar

trade relations between Pemaquid and Boston. He saw that each settler’s needs were supplied for the first year, and that every settler who fulfilled his obligations received a warranty deed to his lot. But it was Shurte’s relations with the Indians that made him most remembered. As, under influence of Jesuit missionaries, the Kennebec and Penobscot tribes became increasingly friendly with the French and hostile to the English, it was Shurte who kept the Penobscots’ close ties to Pemaquid. He negotiated several treaties, one of them at a conference with the Norridgewocks at Ticonic Falls, where later developed the settlements at Winslow and Waterville.

So close were Shurte and some of the tribal leaders that on one occasion the Penobscots left in Shurte’s care the chief of a Massachusetts tribe whom they had captured. Shurte arranged for the peaceful return of the captive to his native Massachusetts, and Shurte thus gained a favorable reputation with most of the Abnaki tribes of New England.
The peace so carefully protected by Shurte was broken in 1676 by the outbreak of King Philip’s War. All the New England Indians rose up against the English. Many settlements were attacked and ruined. The attack on Pemaquid was devastating. The wooden fort and all the cabins were burned, and the settlers fled to towns along the Piscataqua and the Merrimac. Not only was PemaqUid abandoned, but by 1680 there was not a single English settlement left between Casco Bay and the St. Croix.

Twelve years elapsed while Pemaquid reverted to wilderness. Shurte was now dead and it was a man who became even more famous who started the restoration. In 1692 the Bay government sent to Pemaquid William Phipps, a man recently knighted by the English crown as a reward for his recovery of sunken treasure in the Caribbean. Phipps knew the region well. He had been born at Woolwich on the Kennebec and had served on a number of fishing boats before his days of fame. He replaced the former wooden fort with a stone structure 108 feet square, with walls six inches thick and with 28 port holes manned by guns, six of which were big 18 pounders and named the fort William Henry.

In 1694 there were rumors that a French and Indian attack was planned on the fort, but several Indian chiefs appeared there with a flag of truce. The result was that the chiefs of 13 Maine tribes agreed to abandon their ties with the French and remain at peace with the English at Pemaquid. Among those chiefs was Bomazeen, who had been converted to Christianity by the first Jesuit priest who appeared at Old Point, Father Druillettes. But he proved to be too independent to maintain the treaty, and Bomazeen led the movement to break it and the raids resumed.

The French decided to take vigorous action. A few French officers were placed in command of Indian raiding parties. Under Baron Castine, Fort William Henry was captured, dismantled, stripped of its guns, and the French domination of all territory east of Casco Bay seemed complete. But it did not last for long. In 1700 the Lords of Trade in London recommended Pemaquid’s reconstruction by the government of Massachusetts Bay. But the Governor held off, contending that he simply did not have the necessary funds. The place remained in ruins until 1730. Two years earlier, in 1728, David Dunbar was appointed Surveyor of the King’s Woods for all the area east of the Piscataqua. To protect the trees marked with the King’s broad arrow, Dunbar rebuilt the fort at Pemaquid and renamed it Fort Frederick.

Near the fort, Dunbar laid out the plan for a city in lots of two acres each. Any settler who took one of those lots was granted in addition a 40 acre farm lot elsewhere. All the remaining land in what became the town of Bristol, Dunbar turned over to the speculators, Montgomery and Campbell, who actually brought in the settlers.

The settlers did come. Some of them were wealthy enough to come in their own ships, as did the Coopers and the Norths. The North family became famous not only at Pemaquid, but on the Kennebec above Merrymeeting Bay. John North, the first of many Scotch and Irish from Ulster, arrived at Falmouth in 1719, and was induced by the speculators to move to Pemaquid in 1731. His descendants became the celebrated North family of Augusta, one of whom wrote Augusta’s definitive history. The family came to have definite connection with Waterville. A young Massachusetts man, John McKechnie, came to Pemaquid and married the daughter of Samuel William North, son of John. After McKechnie surveyed Kennebec River lots for the Plymouth Company in 1762, he moved to Ticonic Falls. In 1775 he built the first mill ever erected in Waterville, a combined saw and grist mill on the Messalonskee where is now the pumping station of the Kennebec Water District. The town of Bristol was incorporated in 1765, and Fort Frederick was dismantled by vote of the town. Unused, it had gradually collapsed.

In 1872 it was incorporated the Pemaquid Memorial Association, which secured title to the fort site and deeded it to the State of Maine. Then was built the present fort on the very site of Forts William Henry and Frederick. Nearby is the archaeological and historical museum, recently established by Mrs. Camp, a distinguished archaeologist. To the fort and the excavation are welcomed several thousand visitors every summer. If you have not been there, it is well worth your visit.

Year: 1980